EEOC TO RECEIVE VICE PRESIDENT'S HAMMER AWARD

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) will be presented with the Hammer Award from Vice
President Al Gore's National Performance Review (NPR). The award is
in recognition of EEOC's nationwide labor-management partnership
efforts.

The Hammer Award is Vice President Gore's answer to the $600
hammer of yesterday's government and, symbolically, consists of a
$6 hammer, ribbon and a notecard from the Vice President. Bob
Stone, Executive Director of NPR, is scheduled to present the award
at a ceremony here on Thursday, March 14, 1996, at EEOC
headquarters. The award will be accepted by EEOC Chairman Gilbert
F. Casellas on behalf of all members of labor-management
Partnership Councils located in EEOC offices across the
country.

Vice President Gore makes this award to recognize teams who have
made significant contributions in support of the President's
National Performance Review principles. Those principles include
putting customers first, cutting red tape, empowering employees,
and getting back to basics.

Consistent with these standards to reinvent government, Chairman
Casellas made it a top priority upon his arrival at EEOC in October
1994 to create a labor-management partnership throughout the
agency. Through the hard work of labor and management
representatives, and the strong involvement of employees in EEOC
field offices, the agency succeeded in resolving longstanding
labor-management disputes and created Partnership Councils
nationwide. As a result of this broad employee participation in the
operation of EEOC, the agency is enhancing its ability to serve the
public.

EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion,
sex, or national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act;
the Equal Pay Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act, which
prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the
private sector and state and local governments; prohibitions
against discrimination affecting individuals with disabilities in
the federal government; and sections of the Civil Rights Act of
1991.